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Here comes the bridal shower gifts

So this weekend I attended my first bridal shower and unlike most stereotypes, it was actually really fun and a far better experience than I could have even hoped for. It actually was a display shower, which I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the difference between that and a bridal shower before hand but now I am well aware and completely support display showers over bridal showers any day!

So for those of you like me who have no idea about all these crazy wedding traditions, let me give you some background.

A bridal shower is a traditional party prior to the wedding where female friends, family, and soon to be family come to watch the soon to be bride open presents and dote on how lovely her new kitchen appliances are. Sometimes there is food, sometimes games, but most of the time they are usually rather boring except for the bride and her mom.

A display shower, in my personal opinion, is a far better approach to this tradition. Instead of spending hours opening presents, the guests are asked to bring their gifts unwrapped. They are placed on the table and left for others to gander at at their leisure while the main focus is on food, chatting, and party games.

Although the traditional “bow hat” may not always arise with a display shower, good bridesmaids never let that humiliation not exist and will scrounge one up or have a back up just incase.

The display shower I went to ended up being a blast. Mostly because my table was occupied with highly entertaining folk. They all had an excellent sense of humor, made games competitive, and the conversation was fun. The food was great, the prizes were themed baskets made by the bridesmaids so were actually were worth winning, and tensions were low because none of us really had anything to do with the wedding except attend and be happy for the couple.

The best part however was hands down when the groom surprised the bride. Generally the groom does not attend the shower and stops by at the end to help bring the gifts home (if it is not hosted at the house). However this particular groom raised the standard. Instead, he came in all dressed up, brought roses and surprised the bride. He individually welcomed and thanked everyone for attending and then helped clean up and take everything home. Sure it was at the end of the shower but still, what a classy act.

So what do you say? Display shower? Must be bridal shower? What’s your family’s tradition? What did you do or plan to do?

Aside from the few random prizes I won, the party favors were these hand made soaps. I thought it was a cute pun. Soap from a shower!